Samuel J. Meyers was born in Cleveland in 1901. A high school drop out, Meyers at an early age became a devoted follower of Eugene Debs. After a variety of employment and involvement in a variety of socialist causes, he wound up in Oakland, California, where he became involved with the Retail Clerks International Association (RCIA) in 1937. Ten years later, he was appointed an RCIA vice-president, a title he held until his retirement in 1972.
With the RCIA, Meyers held many different positions, some of them untitled. Whatever his position at any given time--organizer, Director of the Western Division, Director of the Eastern Division and various assignments at International headquarters--Meyers was basically a troubleshooter, and his interests and assignments were usually in the department store field. Whenever and wherever there was a big strike, a big organizing drive, or a big push to clean up a corrupt area in the union, Meyers was usually on the scene.
Meyers was also the unofficial historian of the RCIA. Despite requests by RCIA President James Suffridge, Meyers never did write a full-blown history of the union because “we were making history faster than it could be written.” He did compile and put to paper some extensive personal “Recollections.” These are filed as part of Mss 56 and listed in the general finding aid for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Retired Leaders Oral History Project.
